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PostSpectacular: V&A Ornamental Installation

Karsten Schmidt’s latest work for the V&A looks like it’s well worth a visit to the museum. An interactive installation as part of their activities around the Cult Of Beauty Aestheticism exhibition, Karsten proposed to create a “modern, stripped down interpretation of his [William Morris] pattern work mixed with classic islamic/indian geometric influences and then realised this project using different digital fabrication techniques”. The result can be seen here as well as an insight into the making of process.

A new app designed by Barcelona based Studio Clam allows users to learn more about this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, designed by architect BIG. The app has a clear interface that explains the different processes behind the construction of the structure, its operation and relationship with the environment. Users can explore the components that make up the temporary structure, currently installed in London’s Hyde park, and explains the concepts and processes that each piece assembled to create the sculptural pavilion. The app, developed as a personal project by the studio as they are such big fans of the architect, allows users to move around a 3D model of the buildings and focus on aspects of the design, such as the continuous, undulating seating, to find out how they are fundamental to the concept as a whole.

“We do it in public” is the proud mission statement of Moment Factory, a Montreal-based new media and entertainment studio that creates some of the most specialised multimedia environments in the world. From transforming Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcleona into a morphing, melting son et lumiere show to providing Arcade Fire, Jay-Z and the Nine Inch Nails with jaw dropping stage shows or permanent interactive artworks for LAX airport, the studio has established a global reputation for creating memorable experiences. Moment Factory’s 160-strong team of designers, directors, illustrators, architects, programmers, engineers and developers continually push the envelope of what is possible and what can be believed. “What we strive to do is create experiences that are relevant enough that people will be moved to go to and visit them,” says founder and creative director Sakchin Bessette. “It could be a rock show, a public space or a forest. It needs to be surprising. New technologies and new types of storytelling let us create new entertainments and experiences. We want to create goosebumps and memorable experiences.”

I recently spotted a furrowed-of-brow colleague completing an online quiz that asked: “will your job be taken over by a robot?” I’m not sure of the result, but what I am sure of is that machines certainly are becoming very like people. Even those with distinctly un-peoplely faces, like Michael Mason’s recent project She & He. The designer worked with his Mer/Sea collective created the graphics and interface for the installation, which uses two forms representing a male and female that talk to one another using nothing but randomly selected phrases nabbed from social media.

There was a time when virtual reality was just fiction, a distant dream in the eyes of hopeful tech experts. But slowly the idea of Virtual Reality (VR) and immersive experiences are not only proving possible, but becoming the norm. Training programs for pilots are now achieved through VR, the gaming industry wouldn’t be half as booming were it not for virtual realms like World of Warcraft and we even have the indulgent choice to watch a film in 3D when we go to the cinema.

Either I’m a real schmuck or The Mill is very, very good at what it does. In all truthfulness, it’s both of these things that have made me really believe that there was some Babe-grade pig acting going on in Wieden + Kennedy’s promo for the launch of the Angry Birds II game we covered on the site last month. In it, we see some adorable swimming piggies wearing little hats and running amok. But it turns out these pigs are 100% computer generated, and The Mill has now released a making-of film that shows how they were born as rough paper sketches and gestated by a lot of CG wizardry. It’s stunning work, even if you’re not as gullible or enamoured with anthropomorphised animals as I am.